Friendly rivalry lifts students at top campus

March 17, 2013

Updated April 24, 2015 3:58 p.m.

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Senior Wesley Yen, 17, center, sits with homeroom students Timothy Hinh, 17, left, and Joshua Dulalas during a cluster period with teacher Hiba Taylor at Oxford Academy in Cypress. Students spend six years with the same cluster teacher, which encourages bonding and a sense of belonging. ANA VENEGAS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Senior Katie Ha, 17, speaks out during a cluster class that has been her homeroom for six years at Oxford Academy in Cypress. The school, which requires passing an entrance exam to attend, is ranked No. 1 among high schools by the Orange County Register. The school has 1,144 students in seventh through 12th grades and offers honors and AP classes. ANA VENEGAS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Gerson Galdamez, 17, center, sits with other students in his homeroom cluster with teacher Hiba Taylor. Students spend six years with the same cluster teacher, which encourages bonding and a sense of belonging at Oxford Academy in Cypress. The school, which requires passing an entrance exam to attend, has been ranked the best high school in Orange County by the Register for five of the last six years. ANA VENEGAS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Seniors Robert Miyoshi, 18, left, and Joseph Jung, 17, work on an art project at Oxford Academy in Cypress. Art classes usually include students from seventh to 12th grades. ANA VENEGAS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Oxford Academy students Lalyn Inguito, left, and Luis Heredia run to their next class through a recent downpour. Oxford Academy, a college prep school in the Anaheim Union High School District, is located in Cypress. The school requires passing an entrance exam to attend. ANA VENEGAS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Dragons created by students hang from the ceiling as students work in art class at Oxford Academy in Cypress. ANA VENEGAS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Self portraits of former students indicate the schools attended after Oxford Academy, a college prep school in Cypress, part of the Anaheim Union High School District. ANA VENEGAS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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A wall showcases photos of seniors in Hiba Taylor's homeroom classroom. Seniors at Oxford Academy in Cypress stay with the same cluster teacher and students for six years. ANA VENEGAS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Senior Wesley Yen, 17, center, sits with homeroom students Timothy Hinh, 17, left, and Joshua Dulalas during a cluster period with teacher Hiba Taylor at Oxford Academy in Cypress. Students spend six years with the same cluster teacher, which encourages bonding and a sense of belonging.ANA VENEGAS, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Parents and teachers expect them to sustain a high GPA, and friends egg on each other to do better and reach higher, to constantly exceed expectations.

"I think at Oxford when you look around at your peers, you don't see people who are satisfied with lower grades," said sophomore Callen Lappin, 15.

The small public school recruits the brightest 25 students from each of Anaheim Union High School District's eight geographic areas. Once students pass a test and are accepted to Oxford Academy, the real work begins with a full schedule of honors and Advanced Placement classes leading to graduation and, nearly always, acceptance into a university.

For its enduring strength in academics, its preparation of students for the challenges to come and a rich community atmosphere, Oxford Academy once again has earned the top prize in the Orange County Register's annual ranking of the county's 68 comprehensive public high schools.

It is Oxford's third consecutive first-place finish and its fifth in the award program's six-year history.

Oxford's demands are high.

In fact, if students who are put on academic probation can't improve their grades within a semester, officials meet with each family to determine if another school would be a better fit.

The average SAT score at Oxford is a whopping 1923 of 2400. Oxford's API score – 995 of 1,000 – is the highest of any Orange County school.

By graduation, every student will have taken at least five Advanced Placement classes, and most will have taken eight to 10; most then pass the AP tests that earn them college credit, said Principal Kathy Scott, who has been at the school seven years.

And all Oxford graduates meet the requirements to attend University of California and California State University schools.

The rigors of the program are so great that, at first, Mitchell Nguyen, 16, didn't want to attend.

But his parents talked him into it, and now the junior says the demands have brought an equally high level of rewards.

"I actually ended up enjoying it even though there are some times where it's stressful and a lot of work and the teachers are sometimes overbearing. But in the end, I think it'll all be worth it," Nguyen said. "Hopefully, I'll be able to go to college and get a good education and be able to succeed in the workplace and fulfill the American dream."

In addition to their academic pursuits, students are directed along one of two career-oriented pathways – a business-career path or an emerging path for science, technology, engineering and math disciplines, known as STEM.

The business path provides courses in marketing, accounting and computer science and culminates in an entrepreneurship class in which students create their own virtual company. Most are also members of the extracurricular club Future Business Leaders of America. The STEM path replaces a health and medical career path dissolved in 2009 for budgetary reasons, Scott said.

Because Oxford's students are multitalented, Scott said, they tend to join an impressive array of after-school clubs, such as speech and debate, the National Honor Society, STEM and International Club.

"Our kids are so pulled in so many directions," Scott said.

To help students blow off steam, the school created a midday homeroom routine that's purely social. Students visit the same classroom with the same teacher throughout their middle and high school years at Oxford Academy. The "clusters" of students become like a family, said English and journalism teacher Hiba Taylor.

Most teachers put up bulletin boards in their classrooms to feature fun photos of their kids through the years.

"They need a place to just decompress," Taylor said.

Students join Oxford in the seventh, eighth and ninth grades. The school does not accept new students beyond the ninth grade. Teachers begin preparing the students in middle school by teaching organizational and study skills.

By their high school years, the students are pushing each other to achieve higher grades and do better on projects.

"The environment of Oxford is very competitive, but I really feel like it's the backbone of our success," said senior Feby Boediarto, 18. "We want to beat each other, but we're always there to encourage each other and support each other."

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